Umfurudzi National Park Mountain Biking Trails

Umfurudzi National Park, which cover an area of 76000 ha (760 square km) of incredible natural beauty and bio diversity, is about 150 km from Harare. More than 400 kilometers of the Park's trails, tracks and roads have been mapped on Trailforks, including those loved by mountain bikers. The three most popular Routes have also been mapped.

For driving directions, click on the Google Directions icon.

The best place from which to start your ride is the Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp where there are great amenities including simple yet good food and refreshments, well maintained ablution facilities and a welcoming swimming pool.

See the links to the Hippo Pools Website and Facebook Page below for more information, including contact and booking details.

Hippo Pools is centrally located to explore trails in the Southern, Central or Northern parts of the Park. The most popular Route is 50 kilometer Umfurudzi All Stars Route through the North and Central part of the Park. If you do not feel up to such a long ride, there are any number of shorter options looping out and back from the Hippo Valley Wilderness Camp.Put your Trailforks map on your handlebars and follow the map. You will never get lost If you are new to Trailforks, check out the link to Trailforks for Dummies on the Trailforks.com website.

The Park is safe to walk and mountain bike anywhere outside of the protected and fenced buffalo breeding area and there are many marked trails and roads within the Park. With special arrangements with management, multi day walking and wilderness camping in the park is available to the seasoned hiker, including climbing Mt Chisinga, Svisamoyo and other mountains, or granite kopjes. Visits may be made to numerous San rock art sites, potholes and Iron-Age dry-stone walling monuments. Walking within the intensive breeding area is allowed with the attendance of a Park Ranger because it contains dangerous animals, namely Buffalo and Elephant.

Why Visit?
From 2000 to 2010 this Park took a severe negative battering and the wildlife was decimated. However, since then the efforts of ZPWMA and Pioneer Corporation Africa (PCA) to form a joint venture to rehabilitate and operate the Safari Park have been transformational and a real inspiration for what can be achieved and duplicated in other distressed Parks. Restocking of wildlife has taken place and management at the Park has reasserted organisation and discipline and brought the poaching problem under control with the Park Rangers undertaking anti-poaching patrols with the aid of added vehicles and equipment such as short wave radio handsets.

The Park has completely recovered so that today it can offer a wide variety of attractions including vast areas of natural woodlands, wildlife, Iron Age dry-stone walling monuments, rock art, fascinating potholes worn into the granite by river action and good fishing for tigerfish, bream, vundu and chessa in a comfortable and safe environment.

There is fantastic fishing and picturesque fishing spots along the rivers that flow all year. The Mazoe River is on the eastern boundary with an abundance of fish, namely, tiger fish, bream Species, bottlenose, barbel, vundu, labeo, and is the only river system in Zimbabwe to hold yellow fish.

Many new animals including elephants, giraffe, buffalo, eland and sable antelope, impala and wildebeest, even Pangolin have been translocated into the Safari Park – a huge credit to the efforts of ZPWMA and Hamish Rudland of PCA and Iain Jarvis of Wilderness Africa Trust.

The lodges and campsites are the most comfortable and best equipped in the country with ZESA power backed by a 24-hour emergency generator. The entertainment area has wide-screen TV, light meals, a beautiful swimming pool. These facilities are unmatched by any other National, or Safari Park in Zimbabwe.

Animal Species: Elephant, Eland, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, leopard, hippo, Nile crocodile, kudu, tsessebe, bushbuck, waterbuck, impala, sable antelope, up to 340 bird species have been recorded and there is excellent fishing in the Umfurudzi and Mazowe Rivers.

Pioneer Corporation Africa (PCA) and ZPWMA jointly manage the Umfurudzi Safari Park. Visitors may book through the ZPWMA main office, or the www.umfurudzipark.co.zw website. The project seeks to utilize resources and expertise from both organizations for the good of the Umfurudzi Safari Park and in terms of infrastructure of roads and accommodation; this is the premier Park within Zimbabwe.

The Park covers an area of 76,000 hectares is bounded on its eastern edge by the Mazowe River with the Umfurudzi River flowing through the southern portion of the park before joining the Mazowe River. This eastern boundary forms the provincial boundary between Mashonaland Central, within which the Park lies, and Mashonaland East.